Learning by Doing: Interdepartmental collaborations to support experiential student learning

In this presentation, we argue that libraries can and should be central to the work of experiential learning pedagogies across the academy, regardless of discipline. Unfortunately, such collaborations do not require extensive faculty buy-in, which can be difficult to generate. Furthermore, the collaboration across departments can lead to obstacles in the development, execution, and completion of projects that center library resources. Drawing on our work collaborating across numerous experiential learning, digital humanities, and public humanities projects, we will explore (1) the benefits of incorporating libraries into the development and execution of experiential learning projects; (2) an analysis of obstacles that can arise; and (3) best practices for developing collaborative practices. Although our models are housed in humanities disciplines, we suggest that work such as ours can extend to the many disciplines within an institution, increasing interdisciplinary work among libraries and academic departments.